Montreat College advanced to the semi-finals of the Appalachian Athletic Conference volleyball tournament on Wednesday by winning their second consecutive pool play match with a 3-1 win over a resilient Milligan College team.

Head Coach Christy Mooberry and her players traveled to Kingsport, Tennessee needing as many as four victories to claim the AAC Tournament Championship, and by late Wednesday, they had collected two of those wins.

On Tuesday, the Montreat defeated UVA-Wise 3-0 in the opening game of pool play.   The 4th-seeded Lady Cavaliers met a team that had limped to a 4-12 conference record during the regular season and played an efficient match to advance with little trouble.

On Wednesday, the competition toughened as the Lady Cavaliers faced 5th-seeded Milligan College, against whom they had compiled a 1-1 record in the regular season, winning in 5 sets in October and losing in 4 sets in early November.  

As that history indicated, a tough match awaited, and indeed, the Cavaliers battled through four long sets before prevailing 25-21, 30-28, 22-25, 25-17.  Natalie Nieman was at her best with Allie Baumgartner (14 kills), Alyssa Kaufman (13 kills) and Anna Stephenson (8 kills) among those who put away some of Nieman's 25 assists.  Mooberry also applauded the play of Ellen Goodman, who worked for 18 digs, 2 aces, and 8 kills of her own.

After besting Milligan, Montreat raised their record to 26-18 and advanced to face Bryan College in the tournament semi-finals on Thursday at 12:00 P.M.  Bryan presents a formidable obstacle, sporting a 15-1 regular season conference record which includes two wins over the Lady Cavaliers.